The Latest: Trump celebrates Barletta, Fischer primary wins

May 16, 2018

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., Republican primary candidate for U.S. Senate, waves to supporters after speaking during an election night results party, Tuesday, May 15, 2018, in Hazleton, Pa. Barletta, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump who first got national notice as a small-city mayor for his attempted crackdown on illegal immigration, on Tuesday won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

President Donald Trump is congratulating two of his favored candidates, Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania and Deb Fischer in Nebraska, who won their U.S. Senate primaries.

In a pair of tweets Wednesday morning, Trump said Barletta will “represent his people well - like they haven’t been represented in many years.”

On Fischer, Trump said the “people of Nebraska have seen what a great job she is doing - and it showed up at the ballot box!”

Barletta, currently a congressman, was heavily favored over state Rep. Jim Christiana to become the Republican challenger for Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, who is seeking a third term in November. The president is expected to visit Pennsylvania to campaign for him.

Fischer, the incumbent, defeated four GOP challengers and will be the strong favorite to win re-election in deep-red Nebraska. Her Democratic opponent is Lincoln City Councilwoman Jane Raybould.

The gubernatorial seat became a top political race when Otter announced he wouldn’t seek a fourth term — marking the first time in 12 years the top statewide seat would be open.

The 64-year-old Little is a rancher and Idaho native who has spent the past 16 years in elected office. In 2009, Otter appointed Little to the number two position with the expectation that he would one day become the Republican governor’s successor.

Little is the grandson of the “sheep king of Idaho,” Andy Little, a Scotsman who came to Emmett in 1884 and built an empire with 100,000 sheep.

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1:15 a.m.

Social worker and political newcomer Kara Eastman has won the Democratic nomination for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.

Eastman defeated former Rep. Brad Ashford in Tuesday’s primary election with a campaign that cast her as a champion of liberal ideals, including supporting a single-payer health care system.

Eastman contrasted herself against Ashford, a centrist and former Republican who focused on his legislative experience and willingness to work with conservatives.

She will now face Rep. Don Bacon, a first-term Republican who defeated Ashford in the 2016 election.

Ashford had been the first Democrat in two decades to win the district, which encompasses much of the Omaha metro area. Although Omaha’s strong Democratic core is balanced out by more conservative suburbs, the district gives Democrats a fighting chance of capturing a congressional seat in a state that is otherwise overwhelmingly Republican.

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12:55 a.m.

Former state Rep. Paulette Jordan has won the Democratic primary for Idaho governor.

She is the first woman to become the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Idaho.

If she wins the general election, Jordan would not only be the first woman to serve as Idaho governor but also the first Native American woman to serve in that position in any state.

The 38-year-old Jordan, who is a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, won Tuesday’s primary against 72-year-old Boise businessman A.J. Balukoff.

The last Native American to hold a statewide office in Idaho was in 1990, when Larry Echo Hawk ran as a Democrat for attorney general.

The open gubernatorial seat became a top political race when Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter announced he wouldn’t seek a fourth term.

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12:30 a.m.

Pennsylvania could send at least three women Congress next year, breaking the all-male hold on the state’s 18-member U.S. House delegation.

Mary Gay Scanlon won a 10-way Democratic primary and Madeleine Dean won a three-way Democratic primary on Tuesday night for two suburban Philadelphia seats where Democrats are heavily favored in November.

Meanwhile, Chrissy Houlahan is the uncontested Democratic nominee for another suburban Philadelphia seat where she’s heavily favored in November.

Women won contested Democratic primaries in three other seats in Pennsylvania, although two of those seats are in solidly Republican districts and another is considered a toss-up in November.

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12:25 a.m.

The Nebraska Democratic primary race for the 2nd Congressional District between social worker Kara Eastman and former Rep. Brad Ashford appears too close to call and could be subject to a recount.

Eastman appeared to hold a lead late Tuesday over Ashford, but neither candidate has claimed victory. The winner will face first-term Republican Rep. Don Bacon, who was unopposed in his primary.

Bacon narrowly won the seat in 2016 from Ashford, who served one term in Congress.

Ashford has presented himself as a centrist in the race, while Eastman has pitched herself as a liberal newcomer in hopes of energizing Democratic voters in the toss-up district.

The district includes Omaha and several Republican-leaning suburbs.

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12:20 a.m.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Rick Saccone has lost a two-way Republican primary in a newly drawn congressional district in Pennsylvania, barely two months after losing to Democrat Conor Lamb in a special election for a different U.S. House seat.

Saccone lost Tuesday’s 14th Congressional District primary election to state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler for the open seat in a heavily Republican district.

Lamb beat Saccone in a district that President Donald Trump won in 2016 by about 20 percentage points. The president campaigned in the district twice and sent several tweets on Saccone’s behalf.

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11:25 p.m.

Oregon state Rep. Knute Buehler has won the GOP gubernatorial primary, besting a crowded field vying to compete against incumbent Democrat Kate Brown in November.

Buehler, who ran for secretary of state in 2012, was the most centrist of the Republican front-runners.

While skeptical of major new spending, Buehler says he is open to increased taxes on electronic and regular cigarettes to pay for budget items like health care, and also to a carbon tax.

Buehler was considered a front-runner in Tuesday’s primary, along with retired Navy pilot Greg Wooldridge and businessman Sam Carpenter.

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10:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor has become the first holder of the office to lose in a primary election.

Wagner fashions himself as a garbage man coming to clean up a state government that chokes the economy with regulations and taxes. He has compiled one of the Senate’s most conservative voting records.

Wolf leads a unified Democratic Party into the fall. Wagner and Wolf live in York County.

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10 p.m.

Nebraska state Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha has won the Democratic nomination to run for the seat held by incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Krist defeated two other Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s primary election. The veteran state lawmaker campaigned on promises that he would take a less partisan approach to state government than Ricketts.

Krist had been a Republican but switched his affiliation to nonpartisan in September when announcing his bid for governor. He reregistered as a Democrat in February because of legal barriers in his bid to qualify for the ballot as an independent.

The two other Democrats who ran were Vanessa Ward, a pastor and community activist from Omaha, and Tyler Davis, a University of Nebraska at Omaha instructor.

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9:50 p.m.

Lincoln City Councilwoman and grocery store executive Jane Raybould has won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Nebraska.

Raybould defeated three Democratic challengers in Tuesday’s primary race for the seat held by Republican Sen. Deb Fischer, who is running for re-election. Raybould faces an uphill general election battle in GOP-dominated Nebraska.

Fischer won election in 2012 by nearly 16 percentage points.

Raybould has served on the Lincoln City Council since 2015 and helps run her family’s grocery store chain. She ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2014 as part of Democrat Chuck Hassebrook’s gubernatorial campaign.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has easily won the Republican nomination to seek a second term in November.

Ricketts enters the general election with more than $1.3 million in campaign cash at his disposal for the general election, far outpacing all other gubernatorial candidates. His only GOP challenger in Tuesday’s primary didn’t raise or spend enough to trigger a reporting requirement.

Ricketts defeated Krystal Gabel of Omaha, a technical writer who advocates for medical marijuana and industrial hemp. Gabel previously volunteered for the Nebraska Green Party and the Legal Cannabis Now Party.

Ricketts has already started airing television ads to tout his previous efforts to lower property taxes.

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9:40 p.m.

A four-term congressman who is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump has won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta had paid little attention to his Republican rival, state Rep. Jim Christiana, during the primary campaign leading up to Tuesday. Instead, he focused his attacks on the candidate he is looking to unseat in the fall, two-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

Barletta is a former small-city mayor who first got national notice for attempting to pass local laws to combat illegal immigration.

Barletta endorsed Trump for president. Trump asked Barletta to run for Senate and is expected to campaign for him.

Casey is the son of a former Pennsylvania governor and is among 10 Democratic senators seeking re-election in states won by Trump.

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9:30 p.m.

Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska has won the Republican nomination in her bid for a second term in office.

Fischer defeated four GOP challengers in Tuesday’s primary election and will be the strong favorite to win re-election in deep-red Nebraska.

Some of Fischer’s primary opponents had argued she wasn’t conservative enough, but Fischer received endorsements from a majority of the state’s elected Republican officials, as well as major farm and business groups. Before being elected to the Senate, she was a rancher and state legislator.

President Donald Trump had tweeted earlier Tuesday: “Nebraska - make sure you get out to the polls and VOTE for Deb Fischer today!”

Polls have closed across Pennsylvania, one of four states holding primary elections Tuesday.

In Pennsylvania, 84 candidates are vying for nominations in 18 U.S. House districts following the state’s court-ordered redrawing of congressional maps. The new districts are expected to give Democrats their best shot in years of picking up seats long held by Republicans.

Republicans are also choosing their party’s challengers to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, setting the stage for what is expected to be a hotly contested general election two years after Pennsylvania helped deliver the White House to Donald Trump.

Idaho, Nebraska and Oregon are also holding primaries Tuesday.

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12:10 a.m.

A redrawn congressional map in Pennsylvania just three months ago has left candidates scrambling as four states prepare to hold primaries.

In Pennsylvania, primary voters will decide the fate of President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Senate. Idaho, Nebraska and Oregon are also holding primaries Tuesday.

Congressman Raul Labrador is one of three GOP candidates for governor in Idaho, a state so heavily Republican that the primary goes a long way to determining the general election.

Ten Republicans are vying for Oregon’s gubernatorial nomination — the most in more than a century. The interest among candidates belies the uphill climb for the party in the Democratic-leaning state.

In Nebraska, Omaha-area Democrats will have options for the first time in the state’s lone urban House district, where two liberals are running.